Comments / New

Goaltender Trade Value

With Carey Price‘s strong start, the Jaroslav Halak backlash has moved away from him and begun to shift to Lars Eller. On TSN, the “expert” panel debated if the Canadiens had received “enough” in Lars Eller. Bob Mackenzie (who I respect a lot) mentioned how they should have acquired David Perron, T.J. Oshie or Patrik Berglund as they are guaranteed top 6 forwards, whereas Eller “could develop into” a top 6 forward.

All of the aforementioned players were St. Louis Blues first rounders. The highest drafted one…. Lars Eller. I don’t understand what has occurred in the past three seasons to push Eller so drastically behind the other three. All three players have yet to fully develop, so it is puzzling to see these type of declarations made so early after the trade. Judging an NHL forward at 21 would lead you to believe that player like Tomas Plekanec, Henrik Sedin or Pavel Datsyuk would never see themselves past the third line.

Blues_medium

The Canadiens were lucky that Glen “I’m resting on my laurels” Sather viewed the 22 year old Jozef Balej as a better player and opted for him over the 22 year old Plekanec in the Alex Kovalev deal. The jury is still out on who will be the best among those four forwards in 3-4 seasons, it is also still out on who will be better between Price and Halak, so I am certainly not ready to judge or get worked up about this deal after 1 month of the season.

Which leads to the question of “What were the media/fans expectations on the return for Jaroslav Halak”? If the expectation was for a top line forward, then you were destined to be disappointed.

Below is a list of every goaltender that has been traded since 2003. The returns are less than flattering.

Date To Goaltender From Player
2003 – 2005
October 3, 2003 ATL Jani Hurme CAR 4th round pick in 2004
October 5, 2003 FLA Steve Shields BOS future considerations
November 16, 2003 CGY Miikka Kiprusoff SJS 2nd round pick in 2005
March 3, 2004 EDM Petr Nedved
Jussi Markkanen
NYR Dwight Helminen
Stephen Valiquette
2nd round pick in 2004
March 3, 2004 PHX Brent Johnson STL Mike Sillinger
March 9, 2004 COL Tommy Salo
6th round pick in 2005
EDM Tom Gilbert
June 18, 2004 CAR Martin Gerber ANA Tomas Malec
3rd round pick in 2004
June 26, 2004 LAK Mathieu Garon
3rd round pick in 2004
MTL

Cristobal Huet
Radek Bonk

June 27, 2004 STL Patrick Lalime OTT conditional 5th round pick in 2005
August 9, 2005 CGY Philippe Sauve COL conditional 5th round pick in 2007
August 10, 2005 PIT Jocelyn Thibault CHI 4th round pick in 2006
October 4, 2005 BUF Michael Leighton CHI Milan Bartovic
2005-06
February 1, 2006 CGY Brian Boucher
Mike Leclerc
PHX Philippe Sauve
Steven Reinprecht
March 1, 2006 ANA Jani Hurme ATL Joel Stepp
March 8, 2006 EDM Dwayne Roloson MIN 1st round pick in 2006
conditional 3rd round pick
March 8, 2006 COL Jose Theodore MTL David Aebischer
March 9, 2006 VAN Mika Noronen BUF 2nd round pick in 2006
June 23, 2006 VAN Roberto Luongo
Lukas Krajicek
6th round pick in 2006
FLA Todd Bertuzzi
Bryan Allen
Alex Auld
June 24, 2006 FLA Craig Anderson CHI 6th round pick in 2008
June 24, 2006 BOS Tuukka Rask TOR Andrew Raycroft
June 30, 2006 TB Marc Denis CBJ Fredrik Norrena
Fredrik Modin
July 5, 2006 LAK Dan Cloutier VAN 2nd round pick in 2007
conditional pick in 2009
November 28, 2006 PHX Mikael Tellqvist TOR Tyson Nash
4th round pick in 2007
February 27, 2007 PHI Martin Biron BUF 2nd round pick in 2007
February 27, 2007 BUF Ty Conklin CBJ 5th round pick in 2007
2007-2008
June 22, 2007 TOR Vesa Toskala
Mark Bell
SJS 1st round pick in 2007
2nd round pick in 2007
4th round pick in 2009
June 22, 2007 FLA Tomas Vokoun NSH 1st round pick in 2008
2nd round pick in 2007
conditional 2nd in 2007 or 2008
June 23, 2007 CAR Michael Leighton MTL 7th round pick in 2007
June 30, 2007 BOS Manny Fernandez MIN Petr Kalus
July 23, 2007 STL Hannu Toivonen BOS Carl Soderberg
November 17, 2007 PHX Ilya Bryzgalov ANA claimed off waivers
December 6, 2007 BOS Alex Auld PHX Nate DiCasmirro
5th round pick in 2009
February 26, 2008 TB Mike Smith
Jussi Jokinen
Jeff Halpern
4th round pick in 2009
DAL Brad Richards
Johan Holmqvist
February 26, 2008 WSH Cristobal Huet MTL 2nd round pick in 2009 (ANA)
February 26, 2008 PHX Al Montoya
Marcel Hossa
NYR Fredrik Sjostrom
Josh Gratton
David LeNeveu
conditional 5th round pick in 2009
February 26, 2008 ANA Jean-Sebastien Aubin LAK 7th round pick in 2008
2008-09
June 20, 2008 STL Chris Mason NSH 4th round pick in 2008
December 30, 2008 VAN Jason LaBarbera LAK 7th round pick in 2009
January 17, 2009 PIT Mathieu Garon EDM Dany Sabourin
Ryan Stone
4th round pick in 2011
March 4, 2009 OTT Pascal Leclaire
2nd round pick in 2009
CBJ Antoine Vermette
March 4, 2009 BUF Mikael Tellqvist PHX 4th round pick in 2010
2009-2010
July 8, 2009 DAL Alex Auld OTT 6th round pick in 2010 (SJS)
August 10, 2009 ANA Justin Pogge TOR conditional pick in 2011
January 31, 2010 TOR Jean-Sebastien Giguere ANA Vesa Toskala
Jason Blake
February 9, 2010 DAL Kari Lehtonen ATL Ivan Vishnevskiy
4th round pick in 2010
March 1, 2010 CHI Hanny Toivonen
Danny Richmond
STL Joe Fallon
March 3, 2010 CAR Justin Pogge
4th round pick in 2010 or 2011 (BOS)
ANA Aaron Ward
March 3, 2010 CGY Vesa Toskala ANA Curtis McElhinney
March 3, 2010 ANA Joey MacDonald TOR 7th round pick in 2011
June 29, 2010 MTL Dan Ellis
Dustin Boyd
NSH Sergei Kostitsyn
August 16, 2010 MTL Kari Ramo TB Cedrick Desjardins

Teams don’t like to give up a lot to acquire goaltenders. The majority of this list is made up of journeymen, goaltenders past their prime or goaltenders who have yet to make their NHL impact, but it does contain examples of goaltenders with strong resumes who even when packaged return very little value.

Trades listed below are in chronological order.

Patrick_lalime_medium

Now I am not suggesting that Patrick Lalime was an elite goaltender on the level of Halak, but through the age of 30 he had a .570 winning percentage, averaged a shutout once every 10 starts and had a respectable .909 SV%. In the playoffs he won 3 playoff series and had taken the Senators to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals while posting a .924 SV%. The return for him after his 2004 playoff meltdown? A 5th round pick with conditions attached to it.

Obviously it isn’t a comparable to Halak, and with the signing of Hasek the Senators were not in the best position to demand alot, but the return for a goaltender in his prime was essentially zero.

Dwayne_roloson_medium

Although Roloson’s career numbers don’t do this deal justice, the Oilers acquired him based on the resurgent numbers he posted while with the Wild. While with Minnesota he posted a .919 SV% and posted 15 of his 17 career shutouts in his three and a half seasons behind the Jacques Lemaire wall. The Oilers were acquiring a UFA goaltender who had been in the top 10 in SV% during the 2003 and 2004 NHL seasons. The return for the 35 year old veteran? A first round pick and a third round pick.

Jose_theodore_medium

We are familiar with this story. A 29 year old goaltender with a Vezina and MVP trophy on his mantle, a selection on Team Canada for the 2004 World Cup, three seasons removed from a Jaroslav Halak type playoff run and 38 games from leading another large playoff upset over the Bruins. The market for him was destroyed because of 38 games? His propecia addiction? His dad’s mafia connections? This was a salary dump and ultimately why the fans were not upset when his playoff tested resume returned the king of the snow angels, David Aebischer.

Roberto_luongo_medium

The biggest fish on this list is Roberto Luongo. Although a playoff resume is noticeably absent on his pre-Canucks resume, that was mainly attributed to playing on terrible teams for his whole career. From 2002 through 2006, Luongo finished in the top 10 in SV% every season. Luongo was entering the final season before earning his UFA status. The return? Bryan Allen and Alex Auld were included as well as Krajicek and a pick, but the return was essentially Bertuzzi for Luongo. At the time, Bertuzzi was toxic due to the Steve Moore incident and his career had begun a freefall that he has never recovered from. If the return was the 2003 edition of Bertuzzi, then we would have a legit example of a large return for a goaltender, but because of all the baggage, Vancouver dumped their headache, a backup and a solid defenseman for the premier goalie in the league.

Tomas_vokoun_medium

The 31 year old former All-Star was involved in a draft day trade that saw the Panthers acquire his rights for a first round selection (Colin Wilson) and two second rounders (Nick Spaling, the other was used to acquire Colin Wilson). The Predators gave up their established number one goaltender with 384 games of experience for a young forward prospect and a secondary prospect. This return is reasonable and was likely influenced by Vokoun being signed to an extension midway through the 2007 season, assuring the Panthers of a number one goalie for 4 seasons.

Ilya_bryzgalov_medium

The current Vezina trophy finalist wasn’t even traded, he was put on waivers because Brian Burke couldn’t get enough interest in him to deal him. We are talking about a 27 year old goaltender with solid numbers and a strong playoff resume that included leading the Ducks to the Conference Finals in 2006 with a .944 SV%. Nobody in the league needed a goalie with this resume and an entry level contract? I guess John Ferguson Jr. would rather trade his premier prospect for Andrew Raycroft.

Cristobal_huet_medium

On the surface, a 2nd rounder seems like very little value for the 2006 SV% leader and the 2007 All-Star, but Huet was about to become a UFA and with Price and Halak in the system the Canadiens dealt him at the deadline for a 2nd round pick. It pales in comparison to the returns that UFA forward rentals demand, but is consistent in what teams will trade for goaltenders.

Js_giguere_medium

Former All-Star, Stanley Cup champion and Conn Smythe award winner with over 50 games of playoff experience and only 32 years old, Giguere was acquired by the Maple Leafs for the artist formerly known as Vesa Toskala and Jason Blake. In what amounted to a double salary dump (Blake and Giguere because of the emergence of Hiller), the Leafs acquired a number one goaltender and an extra year relief on the ridiculous Jason Blake contract.

It is easy as a Canadiens fan to take the stance that Halak is not a proper comparable to these guys because he is still 25 and after his playoff run is set up for a Hall of Fame career, but that is a biased one sided viewpoint. The counter argument for the GM trying to acquire Halak and lower his return would be that he has never played more than 43 games in a season and therefore should not net the return that a veteran All-Star would require. There is risk on both sides of this transaction, for those who say there are not, I offer up the names Jose Theodore and Steve Penney.

The best return on ALL of these deals were reverse engineered by John Ferguson Jr.. In order to acquire Toskala and Raycroft, Ferguson gave up Rask a first, second and fourth round pick. Can we look to one of the worst GMs in hockey to assess proper trade value? Would yourather have received Bertuzzi on an expiring contract in decline? Jason Blake? Aebischer? Or is the Vokoun return fair value?

Looking at these returns, the Canadiens haul for Halak was not out of line for what the league’s GMs have set for a goaltender. If you look at all these deals in hindsight, how bad would Eller have to be in order for the Canadiens to not rank in the top 10 for goaltender return from the Halak trade? (I didn’t include Brad Richards because Richards was not acquired for Mike Smith, Smith was used in a package to acquire Richards)

In January the Canadiens fanbase was prepared to receive a 2nd rounder for Halak, four months later a 1st and 3rd rounder was an outright fleecing by the Blues. This brings me back to Eller. The only way he will avoid the wrath of Canadiens fans is if the Canadiens continue to win and he develops into a scoring center. Unfortunately the fanbase is already proving impatient demanding after 10 games of his rookie season for him to be promoted to the Gomez line.The same fans that continually gripe that Carey Price, Guillaume Latendresse and Max Pacioretty were rushed now want to rush Eller into a role he is not ready for.

The Canadiens have had an organizational deficiency at center for the last decade, especially ones with size. Depth up the middle has always been integral to success in the NHL. The Canadiens finally leveraged an asset to acquire one and with Plekanec and Gomez are set down the middle for the next 3-5 seasons. In my eyes he has proven that he is an NHL player. Have patience, let the kid acclimate himself to the organization, the city and learn Martin’s system before thrusting him into a role that will ultimately lead to failure.


Support Habs Eyes On The Prize by signing up for Norton 360